Future growth of ASEAN airports to be heavily driven by digital transformation

As per a recent survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan among airport industry stakeholders globally, on the importance of digitisation at airports, majority of the respondents replied in favour of such a program. 28 percent agreed that airport digitization is a key pillar in their growth strategy, while 38 percent replied that it is the most important program at the airport, and remaining 30 percent mentioned that airport digital transformation is umbrella term grouping all projects but not a separate program and barely 4 percent mentioned that they didn’t focus on it at all. “KLIA1 and KLIA2 are the most mature ecosystems as airport terminals in Malaysia and they are at the right threshold to explore the full benefits of digital transformation of airports, whilst increasing efficiency, comfort and convenience at the same time delivering a unique experience,” said Amartya De, Associate Director, Aerospace & Defense Practice at Frost & Sullivan. Increasing the operational efficiency and adopting digital transformation might hold the solution to manage within the constraints especially when adding more terminals or substantial expansion is not only expensive but also requires a long planning horizon. Frost & Sullivan estimates that the total air passenger traffic across all Malaysian airports, which has crossed 100 million passengers in 2018, is estimated to reach to 250 million passengers or more by 2030. Quite a few airports in Malaysia are currently handling beyond their designed capacity, with Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport being the forerunner. City airports such as Subang, would also… [Read full story]